Louvre, a visitor paid 80 thousand euros to stand alone in front of the Mona Lisa

It was a great success the Bid for the Louvre auction at Christie’s, an auction sale that the British fashion house organized together with the Louvre and that ended yesterday afternoon at 3 p.m.: the Paris museum, the largest in France and the most visited in the world, offered 24 lots for sale, including exclusive experiences and contemporary artworks donated by artists, with the aim of raising funds to finance its activities. And the results proved the institute right: 23 lots out of 24 were sold, and the museum totaled the sum of 2 million 365 thousand euros, with which the construction of a new space for educational and solidarity projects will be financed.

The piece that totaled the highest amount was a painting by Pierre Soulages, which sold for the sum of 1.4 million euros, but the experiences that the Louvre has put up for sale are mostly the ones that are causing discussion. The one that sold for the highest sum? The chance to stand in front of the Mona Lisa without the glass case, alone, in the company of the museum’s director, Jean-Luc Martinez, during the painting’s annual inspection operations, when the Mona Lisa is detached from the wall and examined by experts to check its state of preservation. The experience includes the chance to watch the operations: “you will be invited to be part of this moment,” the presentation reads, “and you will be able to look Mona Lisa directly in the eye, admiring this iconic work up close.” The opportunity to stand alone before the Mona Lisa is accompanied by a private tour of the Grande Galerie. The experience, reserved for up to two people, started from an estimate of 10-30,000 euros and went for 80,000 euros. At the moment, we do not know who is the wealthy visitor (or the wealthy female visitor) who shelled out this amount in order to be alone in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.

Other exclusive experiences have totaled figures equally precluded to most, though lower. For example, the “magical evening by candlelight” (a visit to the museum’s collections, obviously always alone, at night, guided only by the dim light of a flashlight: the estimate here, too, was 10-30,000 euros) was hammered out at 38,000 euros, while the visit to the Louvre’s rooftops in the company of the famous street artist JR sold for 42,000 euros (estimate between 6 and 12,000 euros). Another wealthy visitor spent 42,000 euros to have a private concert in his honor in the Hall of the Caryatids, which used to be the audience hall of the King of France (so, in the presentation, comparisons of course are wasted: the estimate was 10 to 30,000 euros). Then there were those who paid 11,000 euros for a romantic “picnic” for two, prepared by one of the best restaurants in Paris (Le Meurice Alain Ducasse), on the top of the Arc du Carrousel (estimate 5-10,000 euros), and those who shelled out 12.000 to be shown some masterpieces from the Cabinet des Dessins usually not on display (estimate 6-12,000 euros), and those who, for the sum of 16,000 euros, will have a tour of the Louvre accompanied by a special lunch at Le Meurice Alain Ducasse restaurant (estimate 5-10,000 euros). The private tour of the Louvre together with director Martinez fetched 38,000 euros (estimate 5-10,000 euros), while the experience combining a food-themed visit and a special stay at the famous Ritz hotel fetched 20,000 euros (estimate 5-10,000 euros). Finally, one visitor paid 24,000 euros to have a tree named after him in the Tuileries garden (estimate 3-6,000 euros), and lastly, only 8,500 euros for the private tour of the Louvre’s three venues in Paris, Lens, and Abu Dhabi (estimate 4-8,000 euros).

As for the other lots, a work by Candida Höfer from the artist’s personal collection fetched 40,000 euros, and then again a Rose du Louvre by Jean-Michel Othoniel sold for 90,000 euros, a Louvre-themed watch by Vacheron Constantin at 280,000 euros, a bag also inspired by the Louvre by Virgil Abloh at 6,500 euros, a work by Johan Creten(Glory - Naples II) at 35.000 euros, a diamond, onyx and emerald bracelet by Cartier at 90,000 euros, two miniature custom Dior dresses paired with private tours of the Louvre at 20,000 euros, a custom perfume by Vuitton at 30,000, a Forest by Eva Jospin at 13,000, a custom perfume by Dior (with two private tours of the Louvre) at 20,000, and, finally, a special tasting of Moët Hennessy at 9,000 euros. Only one work by Xavier Veilhan remained unsold.

Louvre, a visitor paid 80 thousand euros to stand alone in front of the Mona Lisa

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